There are patents aplenty on letting users know if any of their friends are in their vicinity based on GPS information. While that is certainly cool, it is not particularly useful. Here is a nifty new feature that one might get to see in future versions of the iPhone.
In a fresh patent filed recently at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Apple has described a technology that will help users send their location details to their friends at the push of a button. Alternatively, users may also request for location information from their friends.
This can be pretty useful if one of your friends is lost or feels the GPS is not particularly helpful. With a lot of location related patents being filed by Apple of late, it is to be seen how the company plans to integrate all these services into one comprehensive location tool. It will be interesting if we get to see some of this in iPhone OS 4.0.
[via Patently Apple]